I can't even type these words without crying...but our beloved nanny is going to be leaving us in another month as her husband got a new job. Out of town. We hired her knowing she'd be with us for no more than a year or so, so why does this hurt so much that she's leaving us a few months early? Because she's absolutely amazing, that's why.
Mike and I knew we didn't want Delaney in daycare as a newborn; we didn't put Izzy in as a newborn (I stayed home with her the first 6 months) and that is what we were comfortable with. So we started the search for a nanny. It was a long process and took many months to find just the right fit. We knew we wanted someone with an education background and someone who was a mother. We interviewed many. We were heartbroken by a few. And then came Elissa.
We met Elissa and knew immediately she was the perfect fit. Her energy, enthusiasm, spirit, teaching background (also a fellow IU grad) and being a parent was just spot on with our needs. It felt right. Simply put, we had found our nanny. Elissa started part time while I was home on maternity leave so as to ease her (and Izzy and her own son) into the transition that would become their daily routine. I slowly let go of my fears. Slowly let go of Izzy and Delaney. Slowly eased into my new routine: working outside of the home once again.
Surprisingly, my transition was quite seamless; going back to work was a breeze (adult time, gym time, ME time!). Elissa had the hard part as I left her home with a 12 week old, her 11 month old and my 2.5 year old. She quickly learned how to juggle all three and made it look easy. I soon became envious of how she managed to get all 3 of the kids to pre-school drop-off and back without any major incident to report. Bottom line, she had a tough job to start and quickly made it an old hat.
We report back and forth daily via a journal (I rarely see her, as Mike is the one here when she comes and goes) about daily poop habits, potty training success/failure, nap times, feedings, tantrums, milestones, and outings. As the months went on the routine became more and more comfortable and familiar and simply second nature to our household. We relied on Elissa and knew we could count on her not only to care for our girls, but to unconditionally love them as if they were her own.
This is where my heart breaks.
After a long week or weekend of Elissa off, Izzy will constantly ask when she can see Tyler & Elissa. They are her buddies. They have play dates, picnics, pool time, library story hour, concerts, open gym...she misses them when they aren't here. In fact, Izzy oftentimes calls me Elissa. Initially my feelings were hurt, but then the more I thought about it the more my heart would melt; Izzy loves Elissa. And you know what? We do, too.
Elissa was instrumental in all of Delaney's milestones: taking her first bottle (after a week-long bottle strike!), getting her on a nap schedule (getting her to nap somewhere besides her swing!!!), sitting up, rolling over, crawling and this week standing on her own. I realize Delaney would be doing all of these things in daycare; however, knowing that my baby has had all this amazing one-on-one time to hone in on these skills has meant the world to me. Elissa has just been there. For it all.
In the past few months several people have told me how wonderful our nanny is: fellow pre-schoolers' moms have told me they admire how much energy she has even with her hands full with 3 kids, my neighbor told me she sees and hears the kids playing in the yard with her and how great she is with them, and even a girlfriend of mine said she saw them all at an outdoor concert and that Elissa made it look all-too-easy juggling the 3 kids. In fact, my girlfriend said her heart melted to see how wonderful our nanny was with my girls. Now THAT melted my heart. Hearing from these third parties about what an amazing job Elissa is doing simply validates what I already knew: we are so incredibly fortunate to have found her.
We've had the joy of having Elissa for 10 months and have 1 more month with her. I'm so very sad to see her go, but happy for her family that they are embarking on a new adventure of their own. The selfish side of me doesn't want to give her up, as I know the girls have had so much fun at home with her. But after having such an amazing nanny...I'm not sure there would ever be a good time to part.
Here's to new beginnings. And the best childcare a mom could ask for.
Delaney is 10 months old today and growing before our eyes! She's no longer happy with just crawling. Rather, she wants to cruise and walk (assisted) all the time like her big sis. She's starting to stand unassisted on her own...she just hasn't gotten herself TO the standing position from all fours. I bet by 12 months she's walking, but who knows. She's 100% weaned from both me and bottles. As soon as I weaned her, she also gave up bottles. So Delaney drinks from a sippy full time. She's a girl who is determined and knows what she wants...and a bottle is NOT what she wants. She also is doing lots of talking and mimicking our sounds. My mom got her to start waving when we say hi or bye. And she eats everything we eat...and LOTS of it. Laney Bug still naps 2-3 times a day and sleeps for 12 hours at a time at night. She also loves to wrestle her big sis and often times instigates the wrestling. Oh, and she always wins :)
So big!
Saturday afternoon my girlfriend Lori came over for most of the day to watch the girls while we had a 
Water Balloon Assault: catapulting water (& paint)-filled balloons at a human target!
